Human relations

Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist

Today

The Hawthorne studies Pre studies 1926 1929 1931 Critique

Barnard: The Function of the Exective

Motivation studies Sociotechnical

perspectives Recruitment, HRM

The Hawthorne Study

Pre-study: illumination tests a national research council and researchers from several

research companies performed a series of experiments to determine the best lighting levels for worker productivity in the Western Electric Company

change in lighting would increase productivity, decrease the number of accidents and save employees’ eyesight.

1. three departments where they could measure productivity under existing light conditions

2. employees of similar ages and with similar experience were selected from one department and were divided into two groups: a “test group” and a “control group”.

3. only artificial light

Conclusions

no connection between the light levels and productivity,

Reserachers suspected that psychological aspects influenced the work

light level seemed to be only one of many variables that influenced the employees’ productivity

…

The Hawthorne Industries

Part 1: the Relay Assembly Room

Were the employees really exhausted? Were the rest breaks worthwhile, or was the productivity

higher with a shorter workday? How did the employees feel about their work and the

company? What effect did the change in the work tools have? Why did productivity decline in the afternoon?

Setting up the experiment

In order to obtain reactions from the women that would be as normal as possible

requirement: work experience and were interested in participating in the experiment.

The six women, five assemblers and an assembly supplier, shared the work and had certain supervisory responsibilities.

Observer: recorded that the women felt more comfortable talking in this room compared to how they felt in their usual workplace.

In the test room

The Relay

Tests

the researchers emphasised to the women that they weren’t trying to establish a maximum productivity level, but wanted them to work as normally as possible.

1. no changes, estimates of effects of moving

2. group piecework, department piecework

3. various forms of rest breaks 4. shortened workdays 5. no work on Satruday

Operator 1a was the least cooperative, and this represented a potential danger to the experiment. Operators 1a and 2a were on friendly terms before the experiment started and, sitting together in the Test Room, they naturally shared and reinforced each other’s attitudes, which steadily became less helpful as time proceeded (Whitehead, 1938, p. 109)

Interpretation of results

During the first two years of the experiment, the assemblers’ productivity increased almost constantly.

The research manager thought the explanation was the changed working conditions.

Yet that change could not explain the improvement in the women’s morale, evidenced by how they helped each other when someone had a bad day or that work absenteeism had decreased

They also questioned the women themselves about the increased productivity. The women responded that the explanation was the rest breaks, the snacks and the great improvement in the working conditions as well as the fact that in the experiment they had fewer kinds of telephone relays to make (5 instead of 25).

The researchers didn’t listen to these explanations since, first and foremost, they saw the women as inanimate research objects.

Part 2 The Interview Study

Part 2: The Interview Study a systematic study of the employees’ attitudes toward their

work environment and the company in order to learn more about the influence these attitudes had on productivity

Preliminary analysis of interviews

In a preliminary analysis, the frequency with which different subjects were mentioned in the interviews was investigated (for example, absenteeism, ventilation, careers, the employees’ lockers and job monotony).

the researchers found that the male employees were more interested in economic matters and family security, such as pensions and job protection, while the women employees were more concerned with working conditions, such as overtime, fatigue and social contacts.

Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939) attributed this difference to the fact that traditionally men are the main family breadwinners, while women are less financially dependent on their work and want easier work in pleasant

surroundings.

New model for interviews

To develop the interview method further, the research manager turned to psychological studies (by Freud and Piaget) and to socio-anthropological studies.

Taking inspiration from the methodology of these studies, the researchers allowed the employees to talk freely about subjects of their own choosing.

In one instance, an unsympathetic foreman, who required a lot of overtime and was the object of many employee complaints, was seen in a different light when an interview with him revealed he had enormous personal pressure on him owing to his wife’s severe illness following the birth of twins.

Results

Results difficult to analyse, but Certain working conditions could be improved Education of managers Listened to complaints, and heard the creaking

and groaning of their own social structure Interviewees’ comments related to both personal

situations, position and status in the factory Groups attitudes

Hawthorne

Part 3: The Bank Wiring Observation Room

a spontaneous, social arrangement that functioned in parallel with the formal organization of the company?

The employees also seemed to form social groups that had very strong controls over how their members worked. The foremen could not interfere with these groups because of the risk of being disliked. Furthermore, there were informal leaders who made each group’s external contacts with the foremen, the engineers and the inspectors. These leaders even taught new hires the acceptable norms at the factory.

it became important to study these small groups

Test setting

In order to observe the social behaviour of an existing group in a changed environment, they tried to find people who had previously worked together as a group and who could participate without changing their group relationship

selected a group of fourteen male assemblers who were moved to an observation room. Their work task was to assemble telephone exchanges for large office exchanges.

The observer, who was required to create close relationships with everyone in the group, needed to have good personal insights into human behaviour as well as good objectivity

Results

the men did not understand how the compensation system worked They thought a day’s work consisted of each man

producing two telephone exchanges, a goal that was significantly lower than management wanted.

the men knew precisely how much they produced

the group’s managers were seldom there, and when they were there, the group concealed its work norms

Special rules

You should not turn out too much work. If you do, you are a “ratebuster”.

You should not turn out too little work. If you do, you are a “chieseler”.

You should not tell a supervisor anything that will react to the detriment of an associate. If you do, you are a “squealer”.

You should not attempt to maintain social distance or act officious. If you are an inspector, for example, you should not act like one. (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939: 522).

Results

two organizations that functioned in parallel, the formal and the informal (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939).

Question of the assumption that the employees were primarily motivated by economic interests, where their work behaviour was logical and rational

Whitehead

Results

The Hawthorne Effect means that when employees are selected and treated as special, productivity increases. A contributing factor is benevolent management and humane treatment of employees.

Informal groups influence the norms that relate to productivity.

Methodological research contributions were in many respects regenerated. Researchers posed new questions and sought new methods of researching and interpreting what they had not understood.

The perception of the study’s methodology was that it was certainly unorthodox, a perception that later was both praised and criticised.

Critics

Reflections from readings

In an interview 50 years later The supervisor – the department head,

Platenka – called me and asked me if I would like to work in the Test Room. And I said, at first, I didn’t know. I was kind of frightened, but said I’d try anything. And then he said to pick out five girls that I thought wouldn’t be married soon. (Greenwood et al, 1983: 226)

Criticisms

Superficial theory construction and naïve methodology.

Disregard of industry’s overall problems and favouritism toward management.

Indifference to the influence of the Great Depression.

Indifference to the significance of gender differences.

Gender aspect: women and men were treated differently as research subjects

After the Hawthorne studies Decision making Sociotechnical perspective, motivation Strategy Culture Institutional theory

The Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard,

CEO Critical to the idea of

economic man as model for theories of organizing

On the top lists of management literature

Barnard – defining organization Why do we organize

in organizations? Human wish to

collaborate, in order to accomplish things which cannot be obtained by a single person

An organization: ”a system of consciously coordinated personal activities or forces” (Barnard, 1938: 72)

All members must wish to collaborate, share the goals of the organiztion

As membership is voluntarily, and all work for a common goal, this goal become moral

Formal and informal organization Formal: Rational Information Decision making

Informal Oiling the wheels of the

formal organization Contributes with

understanding, and motivation when the formal organization fails

Establishes attitudes, understanding, customs, institutions

Communication A space in which the

individual can defend her/his integrity.

The CEO Makes the right

decisions Formulates the goals

which the members have

Communicates and imprints these goals to all members, at all levels

A channel for the shared goals of the organizing

Authority is given from other parts of the organization

Incentives In situations in which

goals are not shared Higher levels of

organization: wages, redundance

Lower levels: Indoctrination

Why motivation and contributions when this concerns collaboration for a shared goal?

Motivation in work life

Content-oriented: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor’s Theory X

and Theory Y, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and Hackman and Oldham’s Job Characteristics Model.

Process-oriented: McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory,

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, Adams’ Equity Theory, and Porter and Lawler’s dynamic Expectancy Theory.

Challenging motivation theories

What does an employee want from work? The aim of these studies was to fi nd a

universal pattern for how people were motivated at work, and to determine which actions followed different efforts.

criticized for not showing how particular needs led to particular behaviours

New ways of understanding work motivation Job enlargement Job enrichment Life quality Commitment Empowerment Downsizing, outsourcing, lean production,

Human Resource Management (HRM)

Coined by Peter Drucker (1955) Various personnel management practices as

well as more strategic practices

Hard and soft HRM

Hard HRM: refers to strategic HRM. For an organization to achieve higher efficiency, personnel

management should function in line with the overall goals and strategies of the organization.

Soft HRM: refers to the issue of the responsibility for HRM – either by a generalist manager or a personnel manager.

The basic idea is that employees are a critical resource who should be involved in and motivated by various normative control measures in order to create an efficient organization that is profitable because its employees are motivated, enthusiastic and satisfied (Legge, 1995).

Diversity

individual’s gender, ethnicity, age, personal history, education, personality, life style, sexual preferences, geographic origins and organizational position, as well as the company’s history and operations

Criticism: what happens to people with different experiences

and different backgrounds who are no longer viewed as contributing to the company’s profitable operations—will they be dismissed?

Recruitment

A critical process for individual and organization A written advertisement – a realistic picutre Recruitment process to test applicants

reactions to various situations psychological or personality tests

Recruitment process

Psychological contract Successful recruitment Homosocial reproduction – men recruiting

men

Conclusions

Recruitment practices leading to employees who will work well in the organization

Informal groups and benevolent management Gender criticism Motivation theory – a simplified view of

people? HRM

Diversity issues